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2015 Berlin ePrix
2015 Monaco ePrix | next = 2015 Moscow ePrix}} The 2015 Berlin ePrix, otherwise known as the 2015 DHL Berlin ePrix, was the eighth round of the 2014/15 FIA Formula E Championship, held on 23 May 2015.'Formula E to race in Moscow', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 03/02/2015), http://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/february/formula-e-to-race-in-moscow.aspx, (Accessed 30/04/2015) The circuit was carved onto the apron at Tempelhof Airport in the heart of Berlin, scene of the infamous Berlin Airlifts in 1948. Jarno Trulli claimed a surprise pole position for his self-entered team during qualifying, the Italian racer beating Lucas di Grassi by a tenth of a second. Sébastien Buemi was third ahead of Nick Heidfeld, while title protagonist Nelson Piquet Jr. was a lowly thirteenth. Trulli recaptured the pace of his younger years to sprint ahead at the start, leaving di Grassi to fend off the field behind for second. Elsewhere, Sam Bird and Jean-Éric Vergne made good progress, while Piquet could only just hold onto his grid position through a clean turn one. Daniel Abt would be the big loser on the first lap, throwing himself into a spin in the middle of the pack, almost wiping out Piquet. Out front, meanwhile, Trulli's pace would dramatically fade during the early stages, effectively gifting the lead to di Grassi on lap five. Indeed, Trulli proceeded to tumble down the order, providing little resistance to those behind. One of those to take him was Jérôme d'Ambrosio, whose pace was so strong that he even managed to take second away from Buemi, and close onto the back of di Grassi ahead of the car swap. The stops would see Piquet make tremendous ground, the Brazilian racer staying out a lap longer than everyone else to leap into the top five. di Grassi, meanwhile, managed to extend his lead, and duly eased away in a quiet second half of the race to claim victory from d'Ambrosio and Buemi. After the race, however, it was found that di Grassi had used a modified front wing, effectively making his car illegal. The Brazilian racer, in spite of some brief protests by Audi Sport ABT, was duly disqualified, handing d'Ambrosio a maiden victory, and his Dragon teammate Loïc Duval a first podium. Background Berlin would play host to Formula E's eighth race of the 2014/15 campaign, with the apron of the legendary Tempelhof Airport providing ample room for the series. The circuit itself was one of the more complicated on the calendar, with rough concrete and multiple corners ensuring that drivers would have to fight their cars throughout the lap. In terms of the entry list there were no major changes between Monaco and Berlin, despite a number of other events happening on the same weekend.'Spotters guide to Formula E', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 21/05/2015), http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/may/spotters-guide-to-formula-e-berlin.aspx, (Accessed 21/05/2015) Heading into Berlin, Lucas di Grassi held a four point lead in the Drivers' Championship, in-spite of Sébastien Buemi's second victory of the season in Monaco. The Swiss racer himself was up to third, with ten points separating him from the Brazilian, with Nelson Piquet Jr. sat in second, four behind his compatriot. Nicolas Prost and Sam Bird round out the top five in the Championship ahead of the Berlin ePrix, with another potential 30 points on offer for the driver who has the perfect weekend. Prost and Buemi's three combined wins, and monumental points total of 160 points meant e.dams-Renault held a clear lead over the rest of the field in the Teams' Championship. Audi Sport ABT were the only other team in treble figures for the season, while NextEV TCR's meteoric rise through the table over the last two rounds had seen them close to within a point of Virgin Racing in third. Venturi were off the foot of the table for the first time since Punta del Este, having overtaken the Trulli Formula E Team last time out. Entry List The full entry list for the is displayed below: Practice FP1 FP2 Qualifying Qualifying in Berlin was to use the familiar four group format used throughout the season, with the draw for the groups made just after Practice Two.'DHL Berlin ePrix: Qualifying groups', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 23/05/2015), http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/may/dhl-berlin-eprix-qualifying-groups.aspx, (Accessed 23/05/2015) Qualifying commenced at 12:00 local time, with each group getting 10 minutes to post a competitive time. Group 1 The Trulli duo of Vitantonio Liuzzi and Jarno Trulli were to lead out Group One and open qualifying, joined by Nelson Piquet Jr., Bruno Senna and . Current form suggested that Piquet should emerge from the session near the front row of the grid, if not on it, with the rest of the Group set to be in a battle to get into the top ten. Yet, flying in the face of form, it was the two Trulli machines that ended the 10 minute session on top, with Trulli himself almost half a second quicker than team mate Liuzzi in second.'Trulli storms to pole in Berlin', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 23/05/2015), http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/may/trulli-storms-to-pole-in-berlin.aspx, (Accessed 23/05/2015) Pole favourite Piquet found himself trailing by over eight tenths of a second, with Senna and da Costa rounding out the group, and looking set (like Piquet) to tumble down the order. Group 2 Headlining Group Two were the Andretti Autosport aces in Scott Speed and Jean-Éric Vergne, particularly as Vergne had already taken two pole positions so far. Jaime Alguersuari, and Salvador Duran also found themselves in the second group, although they were expected, like most of the first group, to be battling for the lower end of the grid. But, again, the twisty nature of Tempelhof's new circuit threw the form book away, with none of Group Two able to beat Trulli's time. Vergne only just beat Liuzzi's time, (a feat that Speed could not achieve), and found himself behind Sarrazin as well. A disappointing session was rounded out by Alguersuari and Duran, who both managed to beat the times of da Costa and Senna. Group 3 Action looked to be on the horizon in Group Three, as two title contenders in Lucas di Grassi and Nicolas Prost looked set to do battle for pole. Nick Heidfeld (at his home race) and were also considered to be dark horses for the top end of the grid, while Charles Pic would hope to beat his best quali position since joining NextEV TCR four rounds earlier. Form seemed to have found a foothold in Group Three, although di Grassi still fell short of Trulli's time, almost a tenth slower. Heidfeld slotted in immediately behind di Grassi, as did d'Ambrosio, both ahead of Prost who was disappointed in fifth as it stood. Pic, as predicted, found himself in the second half of the standings, and looked set to fall even further after Group Four got their turn. Group 4 Rounding out qualifying in Berlin were three drivers who had experienced either pole or victory (or both) during the season. had the winds of history behind him after his Monaco performance, while Sam Bird and Daniel Abt would have to call on earlier promise to aid their ole bids. and Karun Chandhok would round out the group, with both looking to have a good session to get higher into the points. Buemi fell short of his pole goal, ending the session in third after being unable to beat di Grassi's time as well. Abt slotted into fifth (like Heidfeld, enjoying his home race), while Duval earned himself eighth after a strong lap. Drama for Bird saw him throw away one of his full power laps with a spin at the very first corner, meaning he only managed fifteenth, with Chandhok well down the order in last. Post Qualifying The final qualifying results for the are outlined below: Race No changes were made to the grid order after qualifying, despite 's complaints over Jaime Alguersuari.'Piquet, Buemi and Pic get #FanBoost', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 23/05/2015), http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/may/piquet-buemi-and-pic-get-fanboost.aspx, (Accessed 23/05/2015) The results of the FanBoost vote were released two hours before the race began, with Nelson Piquet Jr., and Charles Pic given an extra 30kw/h of boost for five seconds. Report Jarno Trulli's years of Grand Prix racing from pole flooded back to him off the line, as he immediately swept into the lead of the race, ahead of Lucas di Grassi.'Di Grassi flies to Tempelhof win', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 23/05/2015), http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/may/di-grassi-wins-in-berlin-to-extend-title-lead.aspx, (Accessed 23/05/2015) It was also a clean run behind through turn one, with Sam Bird and Jean-Éric Vergne in particular making good progress in the middle of the pack. Yet, while the race got off to a fairly even tempo, the rest of the opening lap would be somewhat more spectacular. First, Trulli locked up his right rear brake, send him out wide and almost into a spin, the result of which gave di Grassi a clear gap to take the lead, with Trulli slotting back into second. His slide caused the pack to brake heavier than expected, a fact which caught Daniel Abt out as he locked up his entire rear axle, throwing himself into a spin. Everyone behind him did manage to avoid his car, although Nelson Piquet Jr. did get pushed slightly into the wall by Bird when they went to the inside of the corner to avoid the Audi Sport ABT machine. It soon became clear that di Grassi had the pace to win the ePrix with ease, as he set four fastest laps on the trot, with Trulli an increasingly distant second. Buemi had a queue of cars behind him, although excessive energy use for Trulli hampered his pace, meaning the Buemi backlog were soon on his tail. Buemi used FanBoost to take second away, with Nick Heidfeld following him through, before the Italian really started to plummet down the order. As Trulli fell down the order, so did Nicolas Prost, as he was mugged by Sam Bird and in short order, before the Portuguese man pulled an impressive move on the Brit for ninth place. D'Ambrosio found himself in third after a speculative dive down the inside of Heidfeld at turn nine, before the pair, along with Buemi, came into the pits. Only Piquet and Pic stayed out longer than the majority of the field, a fact that would come to the fore over the second half of the race. As d'Ambrosio jumped Buemi in the pits, Amlin Aguri fell foul of the minimum pitstop time, releasing both da Costa and Salvador Duran too early. The resulting drive through penalties arguably cost da Costa some solid points, while Duran slipped into a battle with Trulli and Karun Chandhok at the back of the field. Meanwhile, at the front, Piquet was a man on a mission, with FanBoost and an extra seven percent of energy available to push further into the top ten. As d'Ambrosio set about trying to eat into di Grassi's ten second lead, Buemi and Heidfeld were locked into a duel for third, soon joined by and . This allowed Piquet, who had quickly got past Vergne and Bird who had been in an increasingly physical battle for seventh, to catch up to the final podium spot. Heidfeld looked to have taken third into turn nine, but tactical driving by Buemi allowed him to slot back into the position out of the corner. That allowed Buemi to pull a small gap to the rest, while Heidfeld got caught off guard twice in the space of two laps. First, Duval caught the German sleeping into turn three, just three laps before the end, before Piquet, who had swept past Sarrazin with the aid of FanBoost a lap earlier, pulled exactly the same move into turn nine. He now had two laps to take Duval and attack Buemi to get onto the podium, while Heidfeld was left to fend off his team mate for sixth. Back at the very front, di Grassi calmly crossed the line with a 7.5 second lead over d'Ambrosio, taking his second win of the season. Piquet failed to get past Duval, meaning he finished fifth, behind the Frenchman (who took his best finish) and third placed Buemi. Heidfeld held off Sarrazin for sixth, while Liuzzi claimed the final point for Trulli, after a promising day four hours earlier was wiped out with Trulli entering the pits two laps from the end. However, after the race, the FIA disqualified di Grassi, excluding him from the race result, meaning d'Ambrosio was handed the victory. The front wing on the Brazilian's car had been modified, illegally, by the Audi Sport ABT team, although they claimed that the modifications were repair scars. The FIA disagreed, although the team opted not to appeal the decision. Result The final classification of the is displayed below, with the fastest lap setter indicated in italics, and the pole sitter shown in bold. * Indicates a driver was awarded FanBoost during the race. ** di Grassi disqualified from the race result for an illegal front wing.'Di Grassi excluded from DHL Berlin ePrix', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 23/05/2015), http://fiaformulae.com/en/news/2015/may/di-grassi-excluded-from-dhl-berlin-eprix.aspx, (Accessed 23/05/2015) Milestones * First ePrix to be staged in Berlin. * Jarno Trulli claimed his first, and only, pole position. ** Also the first and only pole for the Trulli Formula E Team. * Maiden victory for Jérôme d'Ambrosio. * Dragon Racing claimed their first victory as an entrant. * Loïc Duval earned his first podium finish. * Maiden (and only) points finish for Vitantonio Liuzzi. ** This was also the last points finish for Trulli as an entrant. Standings Lucas di Grassi's post race disqualification had a dramatic effect on the Championship, with the Brazilian tumbling to third, and fellow countryman Nelson Piquet Jr. taking the lead. split the two South American racers, trailing Piquet by two, while severe damage was done to most of the other potential title contenders. Nicolas Prost now found himself with a 25 point shortfall to the top (bearing in mind he effectively lost that number at the first race), while Sam Bird actually fell behind race winner , with the Belgian taking over Bird's position as the dark horse for the title. There was also a seismic shift in the Teams' Championship, as Dragon Racing leapt up to second from sixth, now a point ahead of Audi Sport ABT. NextEV TCR remained in fourth as Virgin Racing fell to fifth, with the former also making it past to 100 point mark for the season. But, out front, e.dams-Renault still proved to be the class of the field, now just 21 points away from the 200 point barrier, and over 60 points ahead. Only point scoring drivers are shown. References Videos and Images: * References: Category:2014/15 ePrix Category:Berlin ePrix